How to go to the track and win — maybe

Up your odds

Jennifer Gish/518Life

Published 2:18 pm, Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Go to Saratoga Race Course for the history. Drag a packed cooler behind you and set up your picnic spread in the backyard. Take in all the sounds — the bugler's call to the post, the cheers of the crowd along the rail, the percussion of hoofbeats as thoroughbreds clack across pavement on the way to the paddock. But don't count on your visit to feed your retirement fund.

Most of us are a 70:1 shot when it comes to being big winners at the track. Even the pros don't get it right the majority of the time.

"Some people go up to the track thinking they're going to walk out of there with fistfuls of money, and it doesn't happen that way," says Tim Wilkin, horseracing writer and handicapper for the Times Union. "You can go study a racing form for hours. ...You're dealing with animals. You don't know if they're going to wake up that morning and not want to run."

And if they don't run the way you expect, the track runs away with your fistfuls of cash. You could become a student of the racing program, but it can be a complicated maze of numbers, and that's an awful lot of trouble for a little summer recreation. Instead, the pros have some tips for being a better-informed bettor, and maybe you'll leave the gates of Saratoga Race Course with a little beer money for the next visit.

Back a winner (of a trainer)

"I always like to look at the connection. I'm big on trainers who have high [winning] percentages," says Maggie Wolfendale, New York Racing Association paddock analyst. "One of the things l like to do a lot of times is a high-percentage trainer has maybe a long shot in a race — between 5:1 and 15:1 — those kinds of horses are worth $10 across the board."

Wilkin says big-name trainers such as Todd Pletcher are always a good bet, no matter what the odds are on their horse. Top trainers' horses are often the favorites, which means they won't pay big, so when a top trainer has a long-odds horse running, it's a rare opportunity that could mean eye-popping dividends. Wilkin points to a Pletcher-trained horse named Danza who won the Arkansas Derby this year at 40:1 odds, paying out $84.60 (to win), $28.40 (to place) and $11 (to show) on a $2 bet.

Look for jockey changes

The racing form will show who was on board the horse in its previous races. If a jockey whose name you don't recognize is listed in the race history, but the jockey for the upcoming race is a jockey whose name is so famous it rings familiar with even a racing novice like yourself, it may be a smart bet, Wilkin says. A great jockey wouldn't be wasting his time with bad mounts. "It's a signal that the jockey thinks the horse can run," Wilkin says.

Check the track conditions

Each entry on the racing form will tell you what distances the horse raced at before, what the track conditions were (fast or sloppy) and what type of track it was (turf or dirt). If that day's race matches up with the type of race the horse has won before, it may help you at the betting window."Look at the conditions of the race — a mile and a sixteenth on turf or a sprint on the dirt," Wolfendale says. "I think that's a really easy thing for people who are novices to look at: What is it doing today?"

And some horses have a history of running well at certain race tracks, Wilkin says. If the horse has had strong past performances at Saratoga, it may be worth giving them a look.Scope out the paddock

Head over to where the horses are saddled before a race to get your own look at the competition. "For me, because my job is to look at horses physically in the paddock, I would suggest that people go to the paddock. And if there's a horse that catches their eye, especially the women because women can look at a horse and get more of a feeling than men, if you like one of them, why not put a couple of dollars on them?" Wolfendale says. "I always like to say [look for] the quiet confidence in a horse, one that's not too excited, one that's not too washy or shaking ... they're kind of tugging along at their groom, their head is down, they're alert, ears up, and just a very healthy horse carrying good weight and muscle mass as well."

Bet smart

Leave exotic bets that are complicated and mean picking multiple horses to the experienced handicappers. Those bets can get expensive if you don't know what you're doing, Wilkin says. Wolfendale suggests very simple bets, and in Saratoga, known as the "graveyard of favorites," a horse with longer odds can pay even with a straightforward bet. "If there's a horse sitting at 10:1 that somebody likes, I always say put $10, $20 across the board (meaning you're making three bets at once — for the horse to win, to place and to show — or $10 to win or something like that," she says.

Mistakes to Avoid

☻You may be a horseracing novice, but you don't need to act like one. Tim Wilkin, Times Union horse racing writer and handicapper and Maggie Wolfendale, New York Racing Association paddock analyst, explain the most common rookie mistakes.

☻If you think you've got a winner stick with that winner, Wilkin says. "Never bet on more than one horse in the same race to win," he says, "because you're betting against yourself." Know what you're doing when you get to the window, Wilkin says. There's an order to how you place your bet, and if you don't say it correctly, you'll either end up picking a horse you didn't want or the people behind you in line will be huffing like an antsy thoroughbred. What's the secret formula? Say the race number, track the race is being run at, amount you want to bet, type of wager and program number of the horse you're betting on. So it should sound like this: "Fourth race, Saratoga, $2 to win on 5."

☻Put some limits on your wallet. A rookie can often get carried away with the excitement of winning or the frustration of losing and want to gamble harder as the day goes on. "This goes for gambling in all respects: Just because you win doesn't mean you have to play all that money back," Wolfendale says. "I always say, 'Go out a winner.'"

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